Keisel: 'It means a lot to be back'

Brett Keisel is happy to be staying in the black and gold.

For Brett Keisel, there really is no place like home and that is where he is going to be after the veteran defensive end signed a two-year contract with the Steelers.

“It means a lot to be back,” said Keisel, who spent the offseason as an unsigned free agent. “There really is no place like here, no place like home. It was tough, just the unknown. For them to give me the opportunity to come back means a lot to me and I can’t wait to get back to work. I still have a little time to not only get to know these men I am going to go to battle with, but just get back into football stuff. I feel great. I have been training my tail off with the thought that I am going to be back. It looks like all of that training has paid off.”

Keisel, who was originally selected by the Steelers in the seventh round of the 2002 NFL Draft, played on the Steelers Super Bowl XL and XLIII championship teams. He has played in 144 regular season games, starting 110, and 16 career postseason games with eight starts.

He has 29 sacks career sacks, seven forced fumbles and seven fumble recoveries in the regular season, with three sacks, one forced fumble and two fumble recoveries in the postseason.

Last season he led the team or tied for the lead in quarterback pressures in five of the 12 games he played, and added four sacks and two fumble recoveries. He led the team with a career-best 40 QB pressures in 2012, and in 2010 earned his only Pro Bowl selection.

Keisel was named Steelers Walter Payton Man of the Year in 2011 and was a co-winner of the “Chief Award” in 2006, which is given annually to the player who best exemplifies the spirit of cooperation with the media that Art Rooney Sr. did.

To make room on the roster, the Steelers released defensive tackle Al Lapuaho.